An East Lancashire teacher of 18 years is selling prints of her magical drawings and using the money to help deprived families and children in the area.
Janine Maclean, who also happens to be the carer of famous mischievous magpie Mike, began creating drawings of pixies as a way of raising money to supply local food banks with necessities following the worsening cost of living crisis.
The teacher has witnessed first hand the damaging effects of the cost-of-living on children that she teaches so decided to use her free time during the summer to continue supporting the most socio-economically deprived children and families in the borough.
The kind-hearted teacher and talented artist has already smashed her target of £500 that she set for the end of August and is determined to continue raising as much money as possible for the remaining three weeks of the holiday whilst she’s off work.
Speaking on her art business, ‘Pixies Against Poverty’, Janine said: “Working as a teacher is like going from 100 miles an hour to just stopping during the summer so when I’m not working at school, I can become an anxious mess, so I have to keep myself busy.
“Drawing’s a therapeutic activity for me so I just thought why not combine my hobby and turn it into something positive by helping families who will be struggling even more now whilst kids aren’t at school anymore.”
Janine and her partner Steve Rostron, who is also an artist, visited the Salvation Army in Nelson and as well as some food banks in Ribble Valley to drop off some food and necessities she has purchased using the money made from her drawing print sales.
During the pandemic, more children in parts of East Lancashire were living in poverty between April 2020 and March 2021 than almost anywhere else in the country and the rates of deprivation are sadly likely to worsen as the cost of living increases.
Aware of the situation, Janine is passionate about supporting children who are worse off during the summer as they don’t have access to free school meals or the morning breakfast club that are run at the school Janine teaches at.
Janine added: “I work with the bottom one per cent of the most economically deprived people in the whole of the country. I’ve worked at this school for 18 years now and when I first heard that statistic, I was really shocked.
“The children literally have nothing. Because I work with these families, and I watch the news and understand the crisis we’re in, I just thought I need to do something for them during the school holidays and help people in the local community.”
Janine has drawn beautiful fantasy like drawings that come with a backstory behind each of the characters. Prints are available to purchase in A3 for £40 and all of the money goes directly towards purchasing items for foodbanks.
The teaches has also received requests for personalised commissions as her following on her Twitter profile Penelope Pendragon has grown.
You can purchase one of Janine’s ‘Pixies Against Poverty’ prints by contacting her through social media or donating through PayPal here.
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